SEO is SCAM ? Bitter Truth About SEO Comapnies.

On a daily basis, I visit many SEO and Web Marketing forums and there are always discussions about ethics and the SEO industry. It has been clear that there are no common standards for SEO companies and that there are no standard methods. It is difficult to make general statements about the entire industry, as it is debatable what 'SEO' actually means. Add to that the fact most SEO companies keep their campaign strategies and methodology secret, and you have a situation in which every company is unique with very different results.

Fact 1: There is no one-size fits all SEO strategy. Wikipedia defines SEO as the process of increasing traffic from SERPs to a website. The real question is HOW they do it. This is what sparked the debates.

Fact 2: SEO campaigns' effectiveness is dependent on site structure, content, keywords and methodology. It also depends on how popular the site. SEO cannot rank for random keywords. SEO is not magic. SEO is logic, problem solving and Web marketing all rolled into one. Your site won't rank if it doesn't provide value for users.

Fact 3: Not all SEOs do search engine optimization. Some do search engine manipulation. It is all called SEO. SEO is a short-term, unprofessional optimization that delivers results at any price. It usually ends up in a banned domain. Ethical optimization is long-term and opens the site up to search engines.

Fact 4: SEO companies are paid regardless of whether your site ranks high in search engines. This is unfortunately the reality in the industry. SEO companies will implement A, B and C before moving on to the next client. It is hoped that the site ranks. They always have more clients if it doesn't rank.

Fact 5: SEO companies employ both ethical and unethical methods of inbound linking. SEO companies often buy large quantities of links from India to maximize their profits. They also sell links on spam/scraper websites and large directory submission packages. Inbound linking is a common way for SEO companies to compensate for poor site optimization.

It is unfair to describe the entire industry without understanding what is wrong and how SEO companies can fix it. How do we identify the good and bad aspects of the industry? Since I started my involvement with the Web over 10 years ago, and more specifically with SEO for nearly 4 years, I have seen the inside workings of large SEO companies and helped clients who were burned by previous SEO campaigns. I have compiled a list of common problems based on numerous forum discussions and Web postings.